USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Portrait and biographical record of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88
Mr. Eekman belongs to Herschel Lodge No. 123, I. O. O. F .; Meridian Lodge No. 99, K. of M .; Lan- caster Couneil No. 91, Jr. O. U. A. M .; Conestoga Council No. 8, Sr. O. U. A. M .; Lancaster Castle No. 68. K. of P .; Lancaster Castle No. 26, Order of the Mystic Chain, and is Master Workman in the lodge of the Ancient Order of United Work- men. With his lodge of the Knights of Malta Mr. Eckman has served as Commander and also as Deputy, and at the convention which met at Lewisburg in 1894, was elected Grand Treasurer of the Grand Commandery of the state. He is third Noble Grand in the Odd Fellows' Lodge, and has been Priest and Chief Patriarch in Washington Encampment, and Past Grand of his lodge. At the present time he is representative of Lodge No.
912. Jr. O. U. A. M., in the Grand Council, and is Master Workman of his lodge in the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is honorary mem- her of the Daughters of America. October 27. 1874, Mr. Eckman married Miss Anna L., daugh- ter of .Jacob Myers, and of this union have been born seven children, Willie Ross. Laura V., Enos M .. Jacob Wesley. Mary Elizabeth, Miles and Ches- ter Reed.
A I'GUSTUS F. REINOEHL, agent for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. is their oldest representative in Lancaster County. He is also a successful auc- tioneer, and an influential citizen of Lancaster. Born in Pittsburg. November 20, 1851, he is a son of Augustus and Leah ( Reigel) Reinoehl, natives of Lebanon, Pa. His paternal grandfather, Jacob, was born in the same locality in 1794, and was a Jumber merchant. carpenter and builder. Remov- ing to Lancaster, he engaged in business here until his death.
Our subject's father was a manufacturer of var- nishes. being the second in that line of business in the United States. On coming to Lancaster he started a manufactory on North Queen Street and was actively engaged in the enterprise for over forty years. After he had acquired a comfortable fortune he retired from business, at the age of sev- enty-five. His wife, who was called from this life in 1887. had eight elnldren. only three of whom are living. The parents were highly respected citizens and active members of the Lutheran Church.
The early education of Augustus F. Reinoehl was obtained in the public schools of Lancaster. and afterward he attended Yeates Institute. In 1869 he completed a course in the Cumberland Valley Institute at Mechanicsburg, and then went into business with his father. He was very suc- cessful in the manufacture of varnishes and oils, the works being situated on the old Manheim
.
JOHN KELLER.
179
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPINCAL RECORD.
pike. From 1880 until 1885 he engaged in the sale of antique furniture, being the head of that business in the county. Later he drifted into auctioneering in Lancaster and vicinity, and has been quite successful in this undertaking. In 1890 he commenced to represent the Mutual Life Insur- anee Company, of which he became exclusive agent for the city, and two years later for the county. His office is at 61 North Duke Street, and liis cus- tomers are constantly increasing.
The residence occupied by Mr. Reinoehl is situ- ated on the corner of Frederick and North Duke Streets. His wife, whom he married in Mechanics- burg in 1875, was then Clara Muman, and was born in Adams County, Pa. They have three children, Benjamin, Elizabeth and Leah. Socially our subject is a member of the Knights of Malta, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Junior Order of I'nited American Mechanics, and the Benevo- Ient Protective Order of Elks. Ile deposits his vote in favor of Republican nominees and measures. With his worthy wife he holds membership in the Duke Street Methodist Episcopal Church. He is honorable and upright in his business dealings and therefore has won the good will of all.
e
=
J OIN KELLER, a prominent railroad man, whose home is in Lancaster, has been of great assistance in a practial way to many of the industries and enterprises in this portion of Pennsylvania and has led a very active and useful life. At various times he has had as many as four- teen hundred men in his employ at one time, and in the concerns with which he has been identified em- ployment has been given to thousands of others. In his financial dealing he has filled contracts for Jay Gould, Russell Sage, and other prominent railroad magnates and his operations have been on a very large scale.
1
Mr. Keller was born September 19, 1828, near Elizabethtown, Lancaster Connty, his parents, Ja-
eob and Fannie (Disinger) Keller, being of German descent. His ancestors were among the pioneer settlers of this county, where his paternal grand- father, John Keller, was born. Ile was a farmer and blacksmith in West Donegal Township and in politics supported the Democratic party. By his first wife, the grandmother of our subject, a Miss Disinger, he had three sons and two daughters. His death occurred when he was about eighty years of age.
Jacob Keller, the father of our subject, was also born in West Donegal Township, and learned the carpenter's trade. Ile was a man of natural ability, practical and very industrious. During his entire life he lived in the township where his birth had occurred and was identified with everything pertaining to the general good. A stanch Democrat, he held a number of local offi- ces. ile was called from this hfe when in his fifty- seventh year. His wife, who is enjoying good health, has now reached the ripe old age of ninety- four years. They were the parents of the follow- ing children: Jacob, a locomotive engineer, whose death occurred at the age of fifty-eight years; David, who died in his ninteenth year; John; Abraham, now engaged in the wholesale liquor business in this city; Elizabeth, Mrs. Carter, now deceased; Fannie, and Samuel, who was an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad and was killed in an accident in 1872.
John Keller received a district school education and when he was twelve years old commenced working for a farmer at 84 per month during the summer. From childhood he was trained to in- dustrious habits and this has become one of his marked traits. When seventeen years old he en- tered the employ of the Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad, receiving eighty cents a day. and in 1845 helped to transport soldiers for the Mexican War. Later he was promoted to carpenter work at $1 per day on the road, and at the age of twenty was made a foreman of repairs on seven miles of track bear Lancaster. For three years he served in that capacity and was afterward placed in charge of the entire railroad between Dillersville and Har- risburg, and just prior to this, in 1857, had built, the Mt. Joy car shops. From 1858 to 1860 he was
180
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
in charge of the track between Columbia, Dillers- ville and Harrisburg, and at the last named date left the employ of the company to start a wood and railroad tie business, taking contracts for the railroads.
In 1861 Supervisor Hambright resigned his po- sition and Mr. Keller was given the place, which he held for seven years, and at the end of that time was appointed Trainmaster at Lancaster. In 1868 he launched into contracting and quarrying, residing where he does at present and having his business headquarters in Conoy Township. From his granite stone quarry was made the monument placed to the memory of Thaddeus Stevens and also the mausoleum for William F. Loekard, which stands in the Columbia Cemetery. For some eight years Mr. Keller operated his quarry in connection with bridge building and general railroad contract- ing. Ile constructed the Quarryville Railroad, thirteen miles of the Schuylkill Valley Railroad, in connection with Colonel Bush, built the Harrisburg & Gettysburg Railroad; one hundred and eleven miles of the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad; the Pennsylvania and Northwestern Rail- road from Irwona to a point four miles beyond Punxsutawney, the road known as the Tapeworm Railroad; a branch of the Harrisburg & Potomac Railroad; the Cambria & Clearfield Railroad; thir- teen miles of track between (Henlock and Trenton, and the western part of the Ft. Washington Road between Philadelphia and Ft. Washington. Mr. Keller has been very energetic, possessed of great organizing power, and has skillfully managed his business and his employes. He was among the first to project the idea of the Conawaga & Cornwell Railroad, of which he made the first survey, and also of the road between Lancaster and New IIol- land. When filling his contract of building the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk line, he man- aged to get seventy miles of the line construet- ed in eleven months. and seven miles were com- pleted in one week. The day after completion the locomotive passed over those seven miles in seven minutes. At this time he often had four- teen hundred men in his employ. In 1874 Mr. Keller built the Philadelphia Stockyards, on the Schuylkill River, and he was one of the promoters
of the Lancaster Trust Company, which is now in a flourishing condition. At present, in partner- ship with Kennedy Crossen, of the firm of Filbert, Porter & Co., he is engaged in making the Queen Lane Reservoir in Philadelphia, which when com- pleted will hold three hundred and eighty million gallons. According to contract this is to be finished in two years, but will be completed in nineteen months, and for this work $1,159,000 will be paid. The firm of Filbert, Porter & Co. have just taken the contract for depressing the North Pennsylvania Junction Railroad in the Quaker City, allowing the streets intersecting the same to pass over the tracks. In this work are engaged one thousand men, with five hundred horses and wagons, six locomotives and three steam shovels. Mr. Keller owns a stone quarry in Texas in connection with Messrs. Slaymaker, Baker & Warner, and in connection with two others he op- erated the Westa Furnace of the Columbia Rolling Mills Company until 1893. As a stockholder in the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad he is interested, and likewise in the Pennsylvania and Northwestern Railroad, and has extensively en- gaged in many other enterprises, among these be- ing the Meriden Traction Company, between that city and Wallingford, Conn.
In 1852 Mr. Keller married Elizabeth Huber, daughter of Peter Huber, of this city, and they had a family of seven children. Ada died at the age of four and a-half years; John Franklin is a bridge contractor on masonry, his home being in this city, and was educated at LaFayette College; William Albert died at the age of twenty-eight years; Anna May became the wife of John Coch- ran, who is engaged in the coal business in Lan- easter; Mary E. resides with her parents; Fanme May wedded Clay Landis, a dealer in grain in this place, and Flora is the wife of John F. Heinitz, a paint dealer of this city.
In his political relations Mr. Keller is an active Republican and was a delegate to the state conven- tion that nominated Governor Curtin to be Chief Executive of the state. Religiously Mr. Keller is identified with the Lutheran denomination and so- eially is a member of Lamberton Lodge No. 43, F. & A. M. At the time of the Centennial he
181
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
laid all the tracks into the various buildings, and with a company built a road from Ft. Scott to To- peka, of which he was made President and which was later sold to Jay Gould. This contract called for an expenditure of $1,300,000. lle was also interested in the construction of one hundred and twelve miles of railroad from Memphis. Tenn., to Bald Knob, a branch of the Iron Mountain Rail- way, this piece of work having been done under contract for lay Gould. With this synopsis of the great work our subject has accomplished, it is need- less to say more, for his enterprise speaks plainly through what he has done.
ACOB F. KAUTZ has a good trade in the eoal business, and is one of the leading citi- zens of Lancaster. A veteran of the late war. he served in the Seventy-seventh Penn- sylvania Regiment, and took part in many of the most noted battles and engagements of the Rebel- lion.
This city was the place of the nativity of our subject. the year of the event being 1846. 1lis father, Jacob F., Sr., was likewise a native of this county. and his grandfather, George Kautz, was born in Germany. He settled in this place, where he engaged in brick manufacturing. The father of our subject also followed the business of briek- making. being a member of the firm of Kautz & Corson, owning three yards at Willow Street, and two yards in Lancaster. This partnership was car- ried on until 1875, when Buchanan was appointed Government Surveyor, and with him the senior Mr. Kautz went on a tour to the Pacific Coast for the purpose of surveying the boundaries of Washing- ton Territory. On his return to this county he engaged in farming until he retired from active cares, and he passed from this life at the age of sixty-four years. lle was a Lutheran, like his fa- ther, and was a member of the Masonie fraternity. His wife, Barbara, was the daughter of George
Coswiter. and was left an orphan when quite young. She was born here, and died at the age of seventy-three years. Of her nine children all but three grew to maturity, and five are still living.
Jacob F. Kantz, who is an only son, attended the city school until twelve years of age, and in the fall of 1862 enlisted in Company K, Seventy- seventh Pennsylvania Infantry. and was mustered into the service at Pittsburg. He was then sent to the front and participated in the battles of Chat- tanooga, Chickamauga and Mission Ridge. and then went to Atlanta. taking part in many engagements. lle was later in the three days' fight at Nashville and in the battles of Pulaski and Spring Hill. After Lee's surrender he was sent to Texas, where he was mustered out in December, 1865. Coming back to the north, he worked on his father's farm until 1869, at which time he obtained the position as clerk in a grocery in Philadelphia. He was thus occupied for six years, and then once more returned to Lancaster, where he engaged in the ice business for three years. Then selling out his interests he embarked in the coal business in part- nership with Elliott & Kautz. When three years had passed our subjeet sold out and started a new yard on South Water Street, succeeding the firm of Quade & Smith, and this has been his place of business since 1883. The yards have a siding from the Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad, and all kinds of hard coal are his specialty.
Jaeob F. Kautz was united in marriage with Miss Kate Ochs. The lady is a daughter of John Ochs, a grocer of this place, where Mrs. Kautz was born and reared. Two children have come to bless their union. their names being Edith and Lillian. The parents are members of the Trinity Lutheran Church, and are considered by all who know them to be most estimable people.
In educational affairs Mr. Kautz has ever been very active, and is now serving the second year of his third term as a member of the School Board from the Seventh Ward. He is Chairman of the Visiting Committee and a member of the Fur- nishing Committee. In 1890 he was elected on the Democratic tieket as a member of the Common Council from the seventh Ward, and served for one term. The following year he was elected to
182
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD).
serve on the Select Council, and was re-elected two years later. During this period he was Chairman of the Railroad Committee. Fraternally Mr. Kautz is identified with Lamberton Lodge No. 476, F. & A. M., and is a Knight of Pythias, being Past Com- mander of the Uniformed Rank of that order.
M ICHIAEL R. HOFFMAN. There are few places the size of Marietta that claim more successful business men, or where there is a greater amount of competition in every line of trade. Perhaps because of its desirable location, but more likely because of the progres- sive spirit of its citizens. It has always enjoyed a good reputation and is a profitable residence place, with influential and active business men. Prom- inent among them is our subject, who is one of the largest tobacco dealers in the county. In the year 1893, he packed six thousand five hundred cases of the leaf, and in the prosecution of this industry he gives employment to sixty-five men in the busy season.
1
Our subject was born January 31, 1857, to Ben- jamin and Elizabeth (Rhoads) Hoffman. Ile is a native of Conoy Township, Lancaster County, and traces his ancestry back to his great-great- grandfather. John Hoffman, who, it is supposed. was the first of that name to locate in the United States, having come hither with a Swiss colony who located at Marietta, near Chickies Creek. Hle was a large man physically, possessing remark- able strength, and was one of the first millers in the county.
Of the three sons of the above gentleman, John, Jacob and Michael, the latter was the great-grand- father. He was a farmer by occupation and a member of the River Brethren Church. He had two children: Michael, Jr., and a daughter whose name is not known. His son, the grandfather of
our subject, lived in Adams County, this state' when a boy. Although very poor in early life, he became one of the wealthy agriculturists of this section, leaving at his decease a valuable traet of land, aggregating over one thousand acres. Hle passed his last years in Conoy Township. He was twice married. By his first union there were born six children : Benjamin, Michael. John, Anna, Eliz- abeth and Mary. ITis second marriage, with Ann Ilershy, resulted in the birth of two children, Abraham and Susan.
Benjamin Iloffman was born in East Donegal Township, Lancaster County, and like other lads of that day, acquired his education in the district schools. For many years he farmed and raised leaf tobacco in his native place, but after his mar- riage moved to Conoy Township. He is still liv- ing, making his home on the farm, and is still engaged in active business. In polities he is a stanel Republican and in religious affairs a con- sistent member of the River Brethren Church.
The parents of our subject were married in 1853, and to them were born ten children, named respectively: Paris, deceased; Michael R., of this sketch; Emma, Martha, Mary, Benjamin F., Abra- ham L., Norman R., Elizabeth and Clayton. Ile of whom this history is written attended school at Millersville until the age of sixteen, when he began teaching, following that occupation for a short time. llis next venture was in the tobacco business in Maytown, in which he engaged in 1878 with a Mr. Grove and his uncle, Michael M. The firm was known as Grove, Hoffman & Co. This partnership was dissolved two years later, when Mr. Hoffman removed his business to Bain- bridge, where he operated alone in the same line of trade for about seven years. At the expiration of that time we find him located in Marietta, whither he had removed his office and tobacco interests. Ile is without doubt one of the largest packers in the county, within whose bounds he is recognized as one of the leading business men. lle is one of the directors in the Exchange Bank of Marietta, a promoter of the Marietta Casting Company and a director in the Columbia Flint Com- pany in Columbia Borough. He has been remark- ably successful in worldly affairs, and besides the
183
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
business already mentioned is the owner of two valuable farms in Lancaster County.
The original of this sketch and Miss Ida, the daughter of Jacob Risser, were united in marriage in 1884. Their four children bear the respective names of Paris, Michael R., Jr., Amos Risser and Guy S. In politics our subject is a Republican and is serving a term as School Director in East Donegal Township. His intelligence, good citizen- ship and fine character entitle him to the esteem of his acquaintances, and his friends in this vicin- ity are many and sincere.
H ENRY BURD CASSEL is a member of the lumber firm of A. N. Cassel & Son, long one of the leading industries of Marietta, Lancaster County. He is also the principal stock- holder and Treasurer of the Marietta Manufactur- ing Company, which furnishies forges, iron fenee. hose reels, various kinds of agricultural implements, ete., to the trade. In other enterprises of this vi- cinity he has been an important factor, and has nsed his influence and means for the npbuilding of the community. In lines of church and benevolent work he has also been active, and is justly consid- ered one of the best citizens of this place.
The birth of Mr. Cassel occurred in Marietta October 19, 1855. He comes from one of the best families of the county, where his ancestors have been residents for four or five generations. On the paternal side he is of German descent, while on his mother's side he is of German and French extraction. Ilis grandfather, Henry Cassel, was interested in the lumber business and was one of the incorporators of the old Marietta Bank. On his death he was placed to rest near Marietta, in the family burying ground. Abram N. Cassel, our subject's father, was born in this borough in January, 1810, and learned the hatter's trade in his youth. During his twentieth year he started in business for himself at his birthplace, and con-
tinued in the hatter's trade some twenty years. On the expiration of that time he embarked in the Iumber business, to which he has devoted his ener- gies up to the present time, being the senior mem- ber of the firm of A. N. Cassel & Son, though he is not now actively engaged in business affairs. For three terms he has served the people of this dis- triet in the State Legislature, where his career was most commendable. Ile was one of the first advo- cates of the public-school system, and has been a member of the School Board, and also of the Town Council a number of terms. Until the formation of the Republican party he was a Whig, and since 1856 has actively supported the former organiza- tion. In county conventions and in local politi- cal meetings, he has been a prominent figure for many years. One of the incorporators of the Lan- caster and Marietta Pike Company, he is now its President. Religiously he holds membership with the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an Elder for years. By his marriage with Mary J. Stahl, he has two living elnktren, George L., M. D., and our subject. The former is a practicing phy- sivian, now located in Philadelphia.
The early years of II. Burd Cassel were passed in Marietta, and his education was received in the public schools of this place and Columbia. Soon after completing his studies he went into his fa- ther's office and has since been identified with the lumber trade. Ile also owns and operates a retail lumber yard in Mt. Joy, and controls numerous mills throughout the state. The present firm was formed m 1888, previous to which time he had long managed the business. Their trade, which before 1888 was exclusively retail, is now largely wholesale. Everything in the line of bill lumber and dealers' supplies is constantly kept on hand, and the firm's trade in shingles alone is greater than that of any other in the state. Much of the trade in this article is from the state of Washing- ton. The lumber in which the firm deals is shipped from Canada, the states of Washington and Flor- ida, and in fact from almost every state in the Union. Mr. Cassel is Secretary and Treasurer of the Lancaster & Marietta Turnpike Company, is a member of the Marietta Flour and Feed Company, which manufactures flour and feed by the roller
184
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
process, and is a Director in the Marietta Gravity Water Company, the Home Building and Loan As- sociation and the Baltimore Building and Loan Association.
For four successive terms Mr. Cassel has served as a member of the Borough Council. Though he is not an aspirant for political preferment, he is the present Chairman of the Republican County Committee, and has always taken an interested share in political matters. For over a dozen years he has been Superintendent in the Sunday-school of the Presbyterian Church, where he holds the office of Elder. Moreover, he is President of the Lan- caster County Sunday-school Association, President of the Lancaster County Union of Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, and is President of the York District of the Young Men's Christian Association.
July 17, 1877, Mr. Cassel married Miss Mary 1. Patterson. of Marietta. Of their union live chil- dren were born, their names in order of birth being as follows: Howard Neff, M. Etlie, Frances Patter- son, Henry and Walter Patterson. The family is held in the highest esteem by all who have the pleasure of their acquaintance, and the cirele of their friends is not limited to this immediate vi- cinity or county. In his business dealings Mr. Cassel's career has been marked with honor an in- tegrity to the highest degree, and the success which he has achieved is due to these qualities united with his good financial management.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.